León, Day 1: Stunning B Group medal for India, hosts Spain on podium – and two golds for Philippines
There was plenty of excitement on the opening day of the World Junior Championships in León, Spain, when two of the three medal sessions were won by the Philippines and two B Group lifters were on the podium, including one from the host nation.
Silver became gold at 45kg for Angeline Colonia after a jury intervention in the first medal session, and her Filipina team-mate Lovely Inan won the concluding 49kg.
Lovely Inan (PHI)
Lucia Gonzalez, Spain’s youth world champion, finished third behind Inan – 12 hours after making her first lift in the B Group at about 9.30am. With five sessions and an opening ceremony, it was a long day.
There was a world record for K Duong from Vietnam in the men’s 55kg, in which Loganathan Dhanush from India also took a bronze medal on total from the B Group. The 17-year-old from India did it despite finishing 13th in clean and jerk.
Dhanush could barely believe it as he sat through the A session. “I got more and more nervous as it went on, but I never thought I would win a medal,” he said.
Loganathan Dhanush (IND)
Of the 13 athletes in the A Group, 11 failed with their final clean and jerk attempt, one declined because he had already won, and the only one with a white light in the final column on the scoreboard had already bombed out in snatch.
“Thirteenth in clean and jerk and I still have this,” said Dhanush, clutching his bronze medal and gleaming with pride.
K Duong finished 22kg clear of Dhanush, bettering his own youth world record in snatch as he made 115-138-253 from three good lifts. Duong, 18, also declined his final snatch attempt.
K Duong (VIE)
Duong’s team-mate Do Tu Tung persevered after five straight failures, making 140kg for clean and jerk gold. Silver on total went to the impressive Japanese debutant Kotaro Tomari on 108-139-247, with Dhanush third on 107-124-231. Another B group athlete, Domingo Meza from Argentina, was 1kg behind Dhanush in fourth.
Colonia, whose brother and uncle both competed at the Olympic Games, thought she had been beaten after the last lift of the 45kg session.
Eighteen-year-old Colonia improved her career best total by 10kg when she made all six lifts for 74-88-162. Khemika Kamnoedsri from Thailand needed 90kg to overtake her and made the lift, earning a majority verdict from the referees.
Lucia Gonzalez (ESP)
Kamnoedsri and her coaches celebrated, only to be denied victory when the jury overturned the decision on review for bending and extending. That was the signal for another celebration, this time by the Philippines team.
“This was my best competition, my best performance – but the gold medal was a surprise,” said Colonia. “I thought I was second, then the jury saw some movement (in Kamnoedsri’s final attempt) and I’m very happy.”
Colonia is coached by her uncle Gregorio, who lifted at the Seoul 1988 Olympics. Gregorio also coached Angeline’s brother Nestor, the Asian 56kg champion in 2015 who competed at Rio 2016.
Next stop for Colonia, who has twice won Asian youth gold, will be the senior World Championships in Bahrain in December. Two weeks after that, she said, she will compete at the Asian Youth and Junior Championships in Qatar, which is also Dhanush’s next target.
Angeline Colonia (PHI)
Kamnoedsri, 19, has not had a lot of luck in her short career. She has finished fourth three times, including twice in major senior competitions, and now has silver when she thought it was gold.
Kamnoedsri made 73-87-160, ahead of the Romanian Ioana Miron, who took clean and jerk gold on 66-88-154. Miron, who was down in sixth place at halfway, broke into tears as she completed her final attempt.
Ioana Miron (ROU)
Two youth world champions finished fourth and fifth, snatch bronze medallist Ezgi Kilic from Turkey and Lawren Estrada from Colombia.
There were plenty of red lights in the women’s 49kg, in which Jeannis Ramirez from Mexico and Naruemol Vonghajak from Thailand bombed out before halfway, to be followed by snatch bronze medallist Kerlys Montilla from Venezuela in clean and jerk. Vonghajak was third in clean and jerk.
Weronika Drzazga from Poland suffered a painful elbow injury that led to an early retirement. She was taken to hospital for an MRI scan.
Inan failed with her final attempt after five good lifts. She made 79-100-179 ahead of Karoll Lopez from Colombia on 80-98-178. Gonzalez made 75-95-170.
By Brian Oliver